(photo by Dennis Ryan) Ted Shpak, national legislative director for Rolling Thunder.

The biker exterior belies the effective lobbyist inside. Shpak wrote and helped pass five bills as the national legislative director for Rolling Thunder, a motorcycle group that publicizes POW⁄MIA issues.

One bill mandated that all federal buildings must fly the Vietnam POW-MIA flag. Shpak originally turned to helping his fellow veterans as a form of self-therapy. He joined the Army after graduating from high school in Ansonia, Conn., and spent 14 months in Vietnam.

‘‘I came back a nut, like all of us came back,” he said. ‘‘I went to school and went to work for the VA.”

Shpak organized Vietnam Veterans groups in Connecticut and fought to get recognition for service members affected by Agent Orange. The Agent Orange Victims International, based in Stamford, Conn., sued major chemical companies in the 1970s he explained.

‘‘My way of dealing with it was helping other vets,” he said of his difficult transition back into civilian life. ‘‘We were all doing crazy things. I felt I had to do something productive. We just started doing good things, taking care of ourselves and helping guys who needed help.”

Vietnam Veterans have a deep attachment to the Wall since its dedication in 1982.

On Veterans Day it’s our wall,” Shpak said. ‘‘It’s a brotherhood that’s pretty close. The guys coming back from Vietnam got a raw deal. One of the things we did was stick together as a group.”

Though many Vietnam-era veterans are still bitter, they want to help the men and women serving today and those who will serve in the future.

‘‘We go to Walter Reed and talk to the troops that got hit,” Shpak said. ‘‘They will try and keep the tradition alive. It should never happen. Even if they don’t like the war, don’t pick on the troops. You’ve got to feel good about that.”

Sixty-five-year-old leggy blond Chris Noel, who celebrated Veterans Day on the Mall with Rolling Thunder, made her film debut opposite Steve McQueen in ‘‘Soldier in the Rain.” She went on to feature prominently in the Elvis Presley vehicle ‘‘Girl Happy” and several beach movies.

Noel travels to Washington frequently for veterans’ events. She was making good money as a contract player at MGM. The then starlet applied for a job with Armed Forces Radio.

‘‘To my shock, I ended up getting the job,” she said. ‘‘We did the show from Hollywood on a big reel. It was made into records and sent all over the world.”

The show turned out to be ‘‘A Date With Chris.” It turned out to be such a big hit with the troops that the Viet Cong put a bounty on her head.

‘‘Ten thousand dollars. It wasn’t very much, but back then I guess it was,” she said of the price on her head. She was taken aback when told the wire mesh on car windows she used in Vietnam were to deflect grenades.

Noel worked for Armed Forces Radio and made frequent trips, some of a couple months duration, to visit the troops in Vietnam from 1966 to 1971.

‘‘It became harder and harder to do,” she said as the war progressed. ‘‘I became as bummed out as they were.”

Her movie career never recovered from her time entertaining the troops. She married a Texas oilman and later divorced, but still has her Screen Actors Guild card.

Noel never forgot the boys she spoke to in Vietnam and founded a shelter for veterans 14 years ago in south Florida. Today she still works with the troops at Vetsville Cease Fire House in Boynton Beach, Fla.